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Biographical details

Professor Jillian Kril is an internationally recognised research neuropathologist and biobanking expert with over 20 years experience in research, teaching and clinical service in human neuropathology. She is Director of the NSW Brain Tissue Resource Centre (NSW BTRC). Her research interests include the study of neurodegeneration of varying causes including alcohol-related brain damage, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), motor neuron disease and Alzheimer’s disease, in particular understanding the protein abnormalities that determine clinical-pathological correlations in these disorders.She was one of the first to describe the effects of chronic alcohol use on the brain and has developed methodological techniques used in neuropathology. Professor Kril is renowned for her expertise in biobanking (having, with Professor Glenda Halliday, jointly established the first brain bank in NSW) and as a leader in the development of a national network of brain banks. She was Deputy Director of the Australian Brain Bank Network from 2007to 2015. She is a Founding Member of the International Society of Frontotemporal Dementia and past President of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Neuropathology. She has been a member of international consortia that have developed and refined diagnostic criteria and established novel aspects of neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Kril has received numerous awards honouring her contributions to the field of neuropathology, including the 2014 Nina Kondelos Prize from the Australasian Neuroscience Society, awarded to a female neuroscientist for outstanding contribution to basic or clinical neuroscience research.

Research interests

Professor Kril has a long-standing interest in the neuropathological effects of alcohol abuse. She demonstrated the extent and topography of cortical neuronal loss in alcoholics and the contribution of associated thiamin and other nutritional deficiencies. She developed techniques to undertake volumetric analysis of postmortem brains and pioneered the use of stereological methodology in alcohol-related brain damage. Her paper on the evidence of regionally-specific neuronal loss in the cerebral cortex of alcoholics (Kril et al Neuroscience 1997), remains one of the most highly-cited studies on this topic. Ongoing research in this field includes collaborative studies delineating the correlation between neuronal pathology and the clinical symptoms and signs of neuronal dysfunction in alcoholics.

Professor Kril is a chief investigator in a program of research led by Professor Glenda Halliday from BMC, on the pathogenesis of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and motor neurodegenerative syndromes, investigating the associated proteinopathies and clinicopathological correlations. The ultimate goal of this research program is to develop a platform for therapeutic intervention with disease-modifying therapies. This requires an understanding of the pathogenesis of the protein abnormalities to be treated, as well as the ability to clinically identify the patients with the various proteinopathies. Professor Kril’s research concentrates on these themes while continuing to build a substantive knowledge base of these syndromes. Questions addressing the concept of pathogenesis include: (a) How do FTD and motor neurodegeneration spread to involve multiple brain systems and regions? (b) Do the main proteins involved in FTD/motor neuron disease (MND) differ in their relative toxicity and what are their mechanisms of action? (c) Why do particular regions and cell types become vulnerable to multiple types of pathologies in FTD/MND? Professor Kril is working with colleagues at NeuRA, UNSW, Macquarie University and the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre, on this broad program of research.

Kril, J. (2006). Neuropathology of alcohol abuse: A comparison with ageing and Alzheimer's disease. International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism World congress on Alcohol Research (ISBRA 2006), Maryland: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Kril, J. (2006). Neuropathology of alcohol abuse: A comparison with ageing and Alzheimer's disease. International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism World congress on Alcohol Research (ISBRA 2006), Maryland: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.